tuque /tūk/ n Canadian English, var. toque[19th c. Canadian French, from the French toque, from the Basque tauka] 1 A close-fitting knitted cap, often with a long tapering end or tassel or pompom. 2 fig Something quintessentially Canadian.

souq/sūk/ n from the Arabic سوقvar. souk 1 An open-air marketplace. 2fig A central meeting place for the circulation of news and ideas.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Debunking Mark Steyn, sort of

Globe and Mail columnist Doug Saunders does a commendable if less-than-thorough job of debunking Islamophobe Mark Steyn, lately of Maclean's magazine. Steyn's fear-mongering about the threats of Islam in/to the West has been subjected to hate-crimes trials in Canada, and lately he's been pontificating about how Muslim mothers are going to breed lazy, post-Christian Europe out of existence.

Saunders takes aim and fires with facts - demographic statistics and scientific research - in order to expose Steyn [PICTURED] as little but a doomsday seer. However, one editorial comment from Saunders sent the Tuque Souq aback: "I agree with Mr. Steyn on one point: Islamic faith is bad for people..."

You backed up your case for demography and sanity, Mr. Saunders. And political Islam may be an issue better tackled your way than Mr. Steyn's; maybe even religion itself is within the purview of your argument. But why is faith bad for people?